


Virmire: Confrontation

by lorspolairepeluche



Series: Mass Effect: the Combined Universe [1]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Arguing, Gen, Platonic Relationships, Post-Virmire, combined au, it's Real Heated after virmire guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 09:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10851147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorspolairepeluche/pseuds/lorspolairepeluche
Summary: Wilder disobeys a direct order.





	Virmire: Confrontation

_“Wilder, that’s an order!”_

_“You can arrest me later; I’m coming for you two! Garrus, you’re with me. Noel, take Wrex and Tali; get to Ash; get her out! Joker, we’re gonna need two evacs; can you pull it off?”_

_“Duke, you heard the Commander! Go get Ashl—”_

_“No, Kaidan! I left you behind at Brain Camp; don’t make me leave you behind here!”_

_“This is_ not _your personal fucking salvation, Wilder! I told you to fucking_ belay that _and go and fucking get Williams, soldier!”_

_“I left Jump Zero behind years ago. It doesn’t matter, Duke. Not when there’s lives at risk. You know that.”_

_“Moynihan already took his squad to get Williams. Garrus and I are on our way to you. Look out for a Blue Streak, Shepard. Wilder out.”_

—

The betting pool between the enlisted men in the shuttle bay—on who the Commander would be angry at when he came back—remained untouched that day, because no one had bothered to guess that Lieutenant Wilder was even a possibility.

Shepard made sure that Alenko was on his way to the medbay before rounding on the others exiting the shuttle. “ _You._ ”

The shuttle bay crew took an automatic step back when they heard that tone in his voice. Whoever it was aimed at was seconds from being thrown against the wall with a biotic blast—or even just chucked there bodily; Shepard’s height and power made him perfectly capable of that. They sucked in a collective breath as he stalked toward the shuttle crew. No one dared whisper questions about who his fury was directed at, but possibilities raced through every mind. The krogan? They’d heard radio chatter about other krogan on the planet’s surface. The quarian maybe, but Shepard was more often than not gentle with her, and Moynihan had moved automatically to her side. Shepard would never yell at Moynihan. Nor would it be at Williams; she was an exemplary soldier and one of the Commander’s favorites.

The others of the shuttle crew backed away automatically, leaving a lone figure facing Shepard, stubbornly holding their ground. Duke Wilder faced Cade Shepard down with equal anger on their face. Even as he stopped dangerously close, towering a full fourteen inches over them, Wilder remained planted, back straight, hands behind their back, stance wide. Parade rest, with the slightest tremble in their arms, ending in the clenching and re-clenching of their hands at the small of their back.

“You,” Shepard said again, nearly snarling at the lieutenant, “disobeyed a _direct order_ to go and get Williams.”

“With all due respect, sir—” Duke nearly looked to Ashley. _Why is it that whenever someone says, “with all due respect”…_ “—your order was to let you and Alenko commit suicide by krogan. I wasn’t about to let that happen—not when I could get you out _and_ make sure your order to get Williams out was also fulfilled. I—”

“I could _court-martial_ you, Wilder; is that what you fucking want? You want to go up in front of a tribunal and explain why the hell you didn’t follow orders? Or do you just want me to give you a drumhead trial right now and call you insubordinate and drop you off at the nearest Alliance station and tell them to throw you in the brig?”

“Look, Shepard, I made a judgment call!” The _sirs_ were gone now. “Because of it, you and Alenko are alive, and so is Williams! I don’t think court-martialing me is what you wanna do right now!”

Shepard’s fingers flexed, blue crackling around them in an unsubtle threat. He was less than a step away from Wilder now, his head turned down to keep them fixed in his vision. Wilder’s head was tilted back just as far, and even with the height difference, it didn’t seem very unequal to the spectators. A biotic ripple ran up Wilder’s body, a warning that they would give just as good as they got if the fight turned physical.

“Commander…” Noel began, taking a step forward and half-reaching out to touch Shepard’s arm. “We got you and Kaidan _and_ Ashley out. Duke was right—”

“Hold—your— _tongue,_ Moynihan,” Shepard growled, breaking the staring match to fix Noel with a burning glare, even as Duke snapped, “Shut up, Noel.”

Vakarian put a three-fingered hand on Moynihan’s shaking shoulder as Shepard and Wilder returned to their argument. “You,” Shepard ground out, “are confined to quarters until I decide what to do with you. And do _not,_ for one second, think that an automatic dishonorable discharge is out of the question. Dismissed.”

“Shepard, if you would just _listen—_ ”

“ _Dismissed,_ Lieutenant.” Every consonant was sharp, the two cold words cutting off in edges more jagged even than Shepard usually spoke in after a mission.

Wilder held his stare for two more seconds, letting the wire of tension grow thinner and thinner, until finally they said, “I will never be sorry that I saved your life.” As they turned on their heel to return to crew quarters as ordered, the unspoken _but you are really, really testing that right now_ was palpably radiating off of them.

It would take the shuttle engineers a week to fix the dent in the shuttle’s hood, the one Shepard punched into it in a single show of rage before storming out of the shuttle bay.

—

Duke didn’t look up at the soft hiss of the door opening until someone sat next to them on their bunk. “You haven’t talked to your mom since Virmire,” Kaidan noted.

Duke gave one huff of mirthless laughter. “I do not need Captain Wilder on Commander Shepard’s ass because he confined her kid to quarters for a dumb mistake.”

“I wasn’t gonna say that. Just thought she’d want to know you’re okay.”

“Mom knows I can take care of myself,” Duke said softly, looking at their hands. “Even if I’m under house arrest.”

“You got off kinda light,” Kaidan pointed out. “Shepard was _pissed._ ”

“Yeah, so was I,” Duke admitted. “I said some things to him that I shouldn’t have.”

“From what Ash told me, he had some choice words for you too.”

“More like choice threats.” Duke made a face. “I deserved some of them, probably.”

“Hey, Duke?”

They looked up when Kaidan put an arm around their shoulders. “Whatever I said down on Virmire…I’m glad you came after us.”

Their hesitant smile was the same one as that first day on Jump Zero.

—

Shepard cursed himself once again, but still his feet wouldn’t carry him any closer to crew quarters. By all rights, if Duke wanted to talk to him, _they_ should come to _him._ He _was_ the commanding officer. But no, he’d confined them to quarters, and releasing them from that so soon would be inadequate punishment, he told himself.

He was saved from another several seconds of swearing at himself by the door to the crew quarters sliding open and allowing Alenko to exit. “Shepard,” he greeted quietly.

Someone leaning against the back wall of the room beyond looked up. “Come in, sir,” Duke called, returning their eyes to the wall of sleeper pods.

“What did Kaidan want?” Shepard asked, cautiously entering.

Duke shrugged, keeping their eyes off him. “He lives here. He’s got every right to be here when he’s off-duty.” Their shoulders slumped in a sigh. “But…he thanked me. For exactly what you probably still want to yell at me about.”

“Only so long as you’re going to yell at _me_ about it.”

That got him a twitch of Duke’s lips that might have turned into a smile in a different situation. “I’m sorry for shouting at you afterward, Commander. I was out of order there.” Their eyes finally flicked over to meet his. “But please don’t ask me to apologize for saving your life. I don’t regret what I did. I never will.”

“All right, I get that, but you still disobeyed a direct order—and not with good reason. I—” Cade paused as Duke raised a single eyebrow in a silent challenge of that statement. He met their gaze steadily, gathering himself and repairing the cracks in the façade, filling them with the Commander. “Just don’t do that again. I can’t save your ass from Alliance regs. Get some rest, Wilder.”

“Yes, sir.”


End file.
